Park

The parks network

The study carried out by the research firm Bureau Bas Smets identified six landscape elements that will shape the new district. The Spoorpark, the embankment park and the wadi park are different types of public green space. Connected together, they will offer a variety of atmospheres and will cross the new district from side to side once development work begins in 2019.

The Spoorpark

From north to south, the Spoorpark (railway park) is an active linear park covering 2.8 ha. Protected from the noise of the railway by an embankment which has been left to grow wild, this park will consist of a regular plantation of trees with clearings here and there for leisure activities such as sports, playgrounds, picnic areas or urban gardens to be defined with Josaphat’s occupants and local people.

The wadi parks

Perpendicular to the Spoorpark, the wadi parks will be green spaces planted with trees and bordered by wet areas which will help ensure the infiltration of rainwater run-off from the new district‘s hard surfaces. The presence of standing water here will allow the development of specific flora and fauna.

The wadi parks may be public, as will be the case with the large wadi located at the centre of the site and developed at the same time as the Spoorpark, or semi-public, i.e. open to all during the day; in some cases they may even be shared gardens. The idea is that they will be quiet spaces for relaxation.

The embankment parks

The embankment parks, located around the edge of the site where the wooded slopes are now, will be devoted to maintaining biodiversity. They will undergo conversion management and then extensive management in order to optimise their biological quality. They will be accessible to the public only via specially laid-out paths, by which everyone, including the disabled, will be comfortably able to climb the steep slope and reach the surrounding districts.

Once the site starts to be developed in 2019, the Spoorpark, the central wadi park and the paths on the east and west embankments will be gradually created. In total this will represent a large network of 7ha of public parks, through which it will be possible to walk across the site from east to west and from north to south. Other green spaces will complement this design, as the property development work progresses.